Author's Notes: This story is less about specific pairings and more about Sakura and Ino's friendship, and romance in general. I had a specific pairing as the end goal, but as I wrote, Sakura demanded someone else, and hey, who am I to deny her? I just wanted to write something small, but as per usual, it grew and grew and consumed my entire life. Shall we say a new chapter every week?

A lot of great things have been happening in my life and I am dipping my toes back into Naruto, and subsequently, writing. I really have missed this.

Chapter 1

"Okay, so, I did a thing." Sakura begins talking before she even fully sits in her chair.

"A thing," Ino repeats, slightly incredulous.

"Yeah. A thing. Don't judge me, okay?" Ino shrugs as if to say I never judge you, even though they both know it's not true. "So I thought that maybe…maybe, I don't know, I could try…dating."

Ino blinks. "Dating."

"Could you try not repeating everything I say?"

"I just—wait, what? Really?" Out of all the things that Sakura could've said after declaring having done a thing, dating wasn't even one of the possibilities that came to Ino's mind. She could've gone too far and demolished one of the indoor training arenas. She could've finally gathered the courage to submit her proposal on introducing science based sex education into the school curriculum to the Council. She could've done literally anything else and Ino wouldn't have been surprised. But dating? "Why?"

"I mean, Sasuke's never coming home, right? I'd be wasting my life away if I waited for him. And I guess I thought…if I never put myself out there, maybe I'd never really get over him. If Sasuke's my only reference point to romance—and let's be real, we were hardly even friends—I'll never know what romance is, right? Oh yes, I'll have my usual, please." Sakura only stops her train of thought when the waitress approaches to take her order.

Ino watches Sakura as she shifts in her seat for a more comfortable position. "So," she finally says after much deliberation, "who will you date?"

"…Okay, so this is the part where you don't judge me."

"As long as it's not Lee, I will not judge. I swear." Ino holds her hand up as if swearing an oath.

"It's, um…it's Kiba."

She shouldn't have sworn an oath…

The longer it takes for Ino to reply, the more Sakura's eyes narrow. Are they narrowing with accusation? With anxiety? Ino couldn't really tell because holy shit, Sakura is going to date Kiba.

"Talk me through your thought process," she finally manages. "I would love to hear your reasons."

Sakura shrugs. "There aren't really any reasons. He's made it pretty clear in the past few months that he's interested me and my standards right now are pretty much anyone but Sasuke, so when he asked me out the other day…"

"Whoa whoa whoa." Ino holds up her hands. "You can't set the bar that low. You can't just date anyone. You're Haruno Sakura! Half of the men in the village don't deserve you." Sakura blushes and averts her gaze down at the table. "Seriously! Apart from me, you're basically the most accomplished kunoichi of our generation for reasons that you don't need me saying—"

"Okay, I wouldn't exactly say that you're more accomplished than I am—"

"And you just can't date trash, okay? Promise me you won't date trash."

"Yeah yeah, okay. I won't date trash."

It is at this point that their drinks arrive and Sakura decides that this topic of conversation has outstayed its welcome. Ino lets it go, because—well, because it seems like time has changed them both for the better—Sakura to be braver, and Ino to be softer.

—

When they meet again a week later at the same tea house, she is eager to hear about Sakura's date with Kiba.

If asked, Sakura could probably say exactly how long Sasuke has defected for. Ino doesn't keep as close of a count, but she does know that it's closing in on ten years, which is why she was so shocked with Sakura brought up dating. Sakura, who had loved Sasuke since she was a child and continued to love him for an entire decade after he tossed her and Naruto aside had convinced everyone, not just Ino, that she was not interested in any other men.

But now…now, word travels fast. Partially because the village is full of gossipers, but mostly because Kiba doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut.

"So?" Ino prods eagerly.

"So," Sakura repeats as a stalling tactic.

"Oh, come on, don't keep me waiting. People have been talking for days."

"Yeah, I don't really know why they do that," Sakura mutters, burying her face in the menu even though she orders the same drink every time. "Aren't there more interesting things going on?"

"Uh, no. So how did it go with Kiba? Were there good vibes?" Ino leans in, ready to pick up any sort of embarrassed mumbling Sakura might produce.

"I mean, sort of? He was nice—"

"Where did you guys go?"

"The dog park. We definitely had things to talk about and it wasn't awkward or anything—"

"Did he try to kiss you?"

"No, and stop interrupting me—"

"He definitely tried to kiss me when he took me to the dog park."

"Well, you have a different reputation from me. I don't kiss on the first date."

"Yeah, because you don't kiss at all."

Sakura glares, and Ino tries not to grin too wide. "Anyway. He was nice, and the conversation wasn't bad, but I guess…I didn't really feel any sort of attraction? Like, with Sasuke, whenever we were in the same room, half my brain would always be paying attention to him. He always distracted me from anything I did. But I was more entranced by Akamaru than Kiba."

"Yeah, I feel that. Dogs are awesome." Ino decides to keep it a secret that there was a period of a few months when she would meet Kiba at the training grounds after dark and just make out a whole bunch. "So do you think you'll see him again?"

"Probably not. I might not really know what romance is like, but I know it's not that."

"I agree. I think there are better guys for you."

"Like who?"

Ino thinks for a moment. "Shikamaru, maybe?"

Sakura's eyebrows shoot up, eyes wide with surprise, and then she bursts into laughter, clearly assuming that Ino had made a joke. "Shikamaru? The one guy you've ever seriously dated?"

"It wasn't that serious of a relationship!"

"You guys dated for a year, Ino. That's pretty serious. That's moving-in-together serious."

Ino shrugs and looks away. "It's been a while since we broke up. I'm okay now. And anyway, we had fundamental problems between us, like how he felt I was high maintenance, and how I felt like he didn't care. We weren't good for each other." She says this, but she still feels a slight pang whenever she thinks about him.

"Yeah, well, even still, I wouldn't date one of your exes. That's just wrong. I'd be indirectly kissing you."

"Ew, Sakura, what the hell? Why do you have to make it gross?"

"I'm just saying!"

She waves her hand, dismissing Sakura's worries. "We're shinobi. Our dating pool is tiny, there's bound to be some overlap. Go for it if you feel it's right." But maybe not immediately, she thinks. Maybe after a little more time, when the wound is less raw, when the void in her life doesn't yearn for Shikamaru.

"I'll think about it if he ever asks me out," Sakura says, picking at a hangnail. "Dating is hard. It's hard to put yourself out there."

"You get used to it."

"Easy for you to say, you almost never get rejected."

"Well, neither would you, but it's not like you'd know because you've never asked anyone out before."

"Fair point. I guess I'll keep an eye out." A moment of silence, and then Sakura sighs, shoulders slumping. "Ino…what if I never get over Sasuke? He was basically the Great Love of my youth, and…what if that's it? What if people don't get a second chance?"

Sakura's pulling out the big questions now, and Ino doesn't have the answers. The same question plagues her sometimes, too. "All I know is that if you don't try, then he will be the only Great Love you'll ever have. And you deserve so much better than Sasuke." Sakura's eyes are downcast, unbelieving. "You just have to try."

"Okay." Her voice is smaller now. "It just feels a little hopeless, you know?"

Ino smiles weakly.

"Believe me, I know."